In Rare Summit, Blues Great Billy Branch Meets Jazz Legend George Freeman!
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gram JAZZ PROMOTING AND NURTURING JAZZ IN CHICAGO APRIL 2019 WWW.JAZZINCHICAGO.ORG IN RARE SUMMIT, BLUES GREAT BILLY BRANCH MEETS JAZZ LEGEND GEORGE FREEMAN! JAZZCITY 2019: A JOURNEY THROUGH JAZZ – THE BLUES BRANCH APRIL 5 AT 7 PM George Freeman and Billy Branch Ellis Park | 3520 S. Cottage Grove Ave. WHICH CAME FIRST, JAZZ OR BLUES? IT'S A BIT blood clubs.’ But I never gave that a second thought; I was like asking that old question about the chicken and the just drawn to the music and to the guys that played it.” egg. One thing is sure, though: each art form has had a He also loves, he said, "being in different musical profound effect on the other, as headliner Billy Branch environments," counting among those international acts and special guest George Freeman will attest to at Ellis he has played with Tuareg legends Tinariwen, Mexican Park. rock band El Tri and Malian singer and guitarist Vieux Since giving the local blues scene a much-needed shot Farka Toure. of youthful adrenalin in the '70s, when he formed his George Freeman, with whom Branch is featured on longstanding band, the Sons of Blues, and also played Freeman's aptly titled new album, George the Bomb!, with Willie Dixon's Chicago Blues All-Stars, harmonica is one of the towering originals in jazz – a guitarist master and singer Branch has embodied what makes this with deep connection to the blues and a big influence music special. While honoring the styles of the immortals on generations of hard bop and soul-jazz players. As who came before him, including Muddy Waters, Junior he approaches his 92nd birthday (which falls on April Wells and Howlin' Wolf, he has carried the blues forward 10), Freeman is not just going strong, having staged a by imprinting it with his own special sound. remarkable resurgences in recent years. As his string of A committed educator known for his work with the terrific albums and live performances attest, he is still international Blues in the Schools program, Branch went capable of sheer amazement. to school himself as a young artist on the many local Together with the Sons of Blues – pianist Sumito blues artists with whom he could get on stage. “I think by Ariyoshi, guitarist Giles Corey, bassist Marvin Little and having the chance to play with and learn from guys like drummer Andrew “Blaze” Thomas, Branch and Freeman Louis Myers and Dave Myers and Fred Below – Little will highlight the blues as a living, breathing, developing Walter's band – I was able to have the ability to play at a form. The show is dedicated to Jazz Institute of Chicago high level," he told an interviewer. co-founder Bob Koester, whose Delmark record label and "I made sure every moment that I got, I was in these Delmark music store have played a major role in making clubs, some of which might be described as ‘bucket of Chicago blues and jazz available to a wide audience. n JazzCity is a free concert series initiated in 1997 by the Jazz Institute in collaboration with the Chicago Park District, now in its 22nd season of bringing people together from across the city to listen to Chicago’s top jazz musicians. JazzCity is sponsored by WDCB 90.9 FM and WHPK 88.5 FM Radio and supported by the National Endowment for the Arts. For more information visit www.Jazzinchicago.org or call 312.427.1676. JAZZ IN CHICAGO APRIL 2019 2 APRIL IS JAZZ APPRECIATION MONTH AND OUR BIRTHDAY, JOIN US TO CELEBRATE! BY COREY HALL In April of 1969, we began promoting and nurturing all forms of jazz through public events and educational programming. 2019 is our year- long golden anniversary celebration of jazz with our founders, members, partners, community, and of course...YOU! So please join us as we share our journey, celebrate the present, and look to the future because jazz is… happening! APRIL 5 (6PM) LARRY BROWN (PRE-CONCERT FOR APRIL 17 (6PM) CELEBRATE THE POWER OF JAZZ THE COOKERS) EDUCATION | The Standard Club, 320 S. Plymouth Chicago Stage at Logan Center for the Arts| Free Ct. | Visit jazzinchicago.org to purchase tickets. In partnership with the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts Enjoy an elegant, fun-filled evening of good food and great music and the Jazz Institute of Chicago, Jazz at the Logan presents featuring musicians from our Jazz Links education programs. This CHICAGO STAGE showcasing local jazz artists in free pre-concert evening includes dinner and one complimentary cocktail. Cash performances in Cafe Logan at 6pm. bar available. Join us as we honor Dr. David Fodor and Jarrard Harris as Jazz Educators of the year! APRIL 5 (7PM) JAZZCITY: THE BLUES BRANCH - Ellis Park, 3520 S. Cottage Grove Ave.| Free APRIL 23 (6:30PM) JAZZ EDUCATION DAY 2019 Billy Branch has been a mainstay in both the blues and jazz Jazz Showcase, 806 S. Plymouth Ct. | Free scenes in Chicago for decades – a link between the two that Join the Jazz Institute of Chicago and WDCB 90.9FM for an illustrates that the roots of jazz come from the mother tree of the evening of insight and a performance with Ari Brown and blues. Branch explores this notion with 91 year old guitar wizard Rajiv Halim! George Freeman and his band, Sons of the Blues. This concert will also feature a special presentation about Freeman’s new APRIL 25 (5:30PM) DIGGING OUR ROOTS: CHICAGO’S album “George The Bomb!” by Southport Records. GREATEST HITS – JULI WOOD AND MICHAEL JACKSON APRIL 10 (5PM) JAZZ LINKS JAM SESSION ON THE CHICAGO TENOR SOUND | Chicago Cultural Jazz Showcase, 806 S. Plymouth Ct. | Free Center, 78 E. Washington St. | Free Presented in partnership with the Jazz Journalists Association Designed for students ages 9-19, Jazz Links Jam Sessions take and the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. A place one Wednesday per month from October – May. Students lively conversation between tenorwoman Juli Wood and jazz perform with one another and with the Jazz Links house band journalist, photographer and saxophonist Michael Jackson about which includes world-class, professional musicians. All are the Chicago Sound and the ways in which the particular energy welcome to attend and hear the next generation of jazz at this and vitality of Chicago’s urban culture shaped Chicago’s tenor free event. saxophone players’ approach to their horns. APRIL 12 (6PM) WOMEN’S JAZZ LEADERSHIP APRIL 30 (6:30PM) CELEBRATION OF THE JAZZ INITIATIVE JAM SESSION | William Harris Lee & Co. INSTITUTE’S 50TH BIRTHDAY 410 S. Michigan Ave, Suite 560 | Free Apple Store, 401 N. Michigan Ave. | Free In partnership with William Harris Lee & Co., the Jazz Institute In partnership with Apple, we will celebrate our birthday of Chicago’s Women’s Jazz Leadership Initiative (WJLI) FREE jam on International Jazz Day with a program that includes an sessions highlight young female talent in the WJLI program while intergenerational panel discussion, performance, and a providing a safe and encouraging space for women to express jam session. themselves. All genders, ages, and skill levels are welcome to attend and participate. We’d love to hear from you! If you have a story or birthday note for the Jazz Institute, please submit to [email protected]. We’re compiling stories to share on our website and social media. Follow us at jazzinchicago.org/50th and social media to keep up to date on all our anniversary activities! JAZZ IN CHICAGO APRIL 2019 3 CHILD OF THE AACM TAKES FLIGHT SAALIK ZIYAD’S LIFE CELEBRATED BY THOSE NEAR AND FAR! BY COREY HALL AS THE AFRICAN-DRUM PROCESSION LED by Baba Atiba & the Babas began, Daaiyah and Taalib- Din Ziyad followed. Their son, vocalist and composer Saalik, had joined the ancestors two weeks before at age 40. While everyone at this Celebration of Life stood up in reverence, Daaiyah summoned strength. “I had to push myself,” she said, when discussing the occasion, held March 1 at Saint Columbanus Church on East 71st Street. “It was like my legs didn’t want to cooperate, but I knew I had to, because we were in front. All our family members were behind us, so I knew what I had to do.” photo by Lauren Deutsch “It was just mind-boggling how many people were there,” Saalik's Homegoing Ceremony Taalib-Din added. “I had people who came from my job I The latter included a performance at then-President Nelson retired from in 2016 show up. It was really an outpouring Mandela’s house. In an interview published on the CCC’s of unadulterated love.” alumni web site, he discussed a moment from the choir’s Numerous tributes in song were performed by, among homecoming concert from South Africa. others, the Association for the Advancement of Creative “It was just an amazing feeling, singing and marching in,” Musicians’ (AACM) Great Black Music Ensemble. (Saalik Saalik said. “I think we learned a lot, and we became closer began his studies at the AACM School of Music at age as a group. We were all crying.” nine and became an instructor there at age 18). Adam Singing with the CCC, he added, showed how it is Zanolini and Taalib-Din engaged in a flute dialogue, and possible to see people as people without prejudice. This violinist James Sanders performed “Chant,” along with alto perspective, Taalib-Din noted, guided his son’s life. saxophonist Ernest Dawkins; Bach’s “Adagio from Sonata “Saalik was unique in that he didn’t see color; he just No.